Summer Reads, Make Me Feel Fine

When I look at this list of books I read over the summer, I feel two things. One, I must really not like fiction. I always knew it wasn't my favorite, but geeze. Two, I feel like this list is pitiful compared to how many novels I have to read while I'm in school. However, I'm doing good to read even one novel for the sheer pleasure of it during a regular semester, so I can't say this is all bad.

1. Creating Community: Five Keys to Building A Small Group Culture by Andy Stanley and Bill Willits

While this was a look into how to literally create small group culture in a growing church, this was such a good reminder of how important discipleship and fellowship among believers really is. While this book is more of a blueprint in church building, it has helped me understand how to organize large groups of people in the most relationally effective way. This is about as calculating (not cold) as you can get when you are talking about forging relationships and connecting people in a meaningful and intentional manner.

2. Wilderness Skills for Women: How To Survive Heartbreak and Other Full-Blown Meltdowns by Marian Jordan

Now I have to admit, I was a bit hesitant when beginning this book. I was afraid it was going to be a self-help book with a few pieces of Scripture thrown in. (And the wilderness theme threw me for a loop, too.) How wrong was I. It was like this woman was peering into the depths of my heart and addressing everything going on, but with a wickedly funny sense of humor and at the same time the sympathy and tenderness of having been there, too. She offered wonderful and Biblical perspective on the rough seasons of life and provided countless examples from the Word and made me realize that there are others who have been there, too, and how faithful God is despite whatever grief/sorrow/worry/anxiety I may be plagued with in the present.

3. Set-Apart Femininity by Leslie Ludy

This is what my wonderful discipleship leader, Ashley, and I worked through this summer. While there were times that I just rolled my eyes when reading (every time she mentioned her other book or when she slammed the author of another popular Christian book), the conversations it led me and Ashley to have was worth it. She spoke a lot of convicting truth, but it was a labor of love getting through the writing. If you have the tenacity to trudge through it, do it, otherwise pick something else.

4. My Lucky Life In And Out of Show Business: A Memoir by Dick Van Dyke

I'm a sucker for a good biography. I love looking into the lives of other people, especially when they are humble enough to admit their shortcomings as well as situations and circumstances that got them where they are. While it's hard to be critical of any person's own story, I was a bit let down by this one. However, I think that was due to my own expectations. Let's be honest, I wanted to hear mostly about Mary Poppins.

5. Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption by Katie Davis

I feel like you almost have to be living under a rock to not know something about this book. Or maybe it's just because my community in Auburn is always talking about it. Regardless, I picked this up while I was still in school with every intention of reading it in one sitting. Didn't happen. But I'm so glad I waited to finish it closer to my trip to East Asia. While Uganda and China are vastly different, I was even more excited to love and kiss on the precious faces of my orphans.

6. The President's Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy

If you don't like history, you definitely won't like this book. And if you don't have a working knowledge of history, you're not going to understand this book. Other than that, it's a very well written (read: dense) book chronicling what is a very real club: the fraternity of living presidents. It's more than just a social club, it's the arsenal on which each president can call upon when he needs someone with the right skills and connections to help make the impossible possible. Overall, it's one of the better history books I've read and would recommend it if you have any interest in the 20th and 21st century presidencies.

6. One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp

No one is more disappointed than I am when I say I didn't like this book. It didn't live up to my expectations after numerous trustworthy friends recommended it. From the first page I had my doubts. Her prose is impeccably poetic, and maybe that's what threw me for a loop. I looked back on Amazon to read other reviews (which I neglected to do after so much word-of-mouth) and thought one reviewer stated it perfectly: the message gets lost in the words. It's not so much a disagreement of the points she is trying to make, it's the distractions of trying to get there that I found frustrating. I have plenty more books I'd recommend before this one.

7. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Mataxas

I've been eyeing this one since spring break when my sweet friend Abby toted a copy to the beach. Knowing she spent two years of her Auburn career in the history department, I imagined this book at 542 pages would be easy for her and more challenging for me. And let me tell you, it was a dense read. There was more detail than I could pay attention to, so there I skimmed a paragraph every now and then, but overall I loved this book. If you don't know about Bonhoeffer and you have the time and attention span to handle this biography, do it.

8. Spiritual Profiling: How Jesus Interacted With 8 Different Types of People and Why It Matters for You by Tom O. Hovestol

 Once again, I started this one while I was still in school and never reached the half-way mark due to lack of time. But now it's finished. While I wouldn't say this a step-by-step evangelism instruction guide, it definitely gives great perspective on how Jesus interacted with people of different social, political, economic, and religious sects. The depth of study is outstanding for the length of the book, and provides different accounts throughout scripture of Jesus speaking with people others wouldn't have spoken to if their lives depended on it.

9. Esther: It's Tough Being A Woman by Beth Moore

I love Beth and all of her craziness. (P.S. If you don't follow her on twitter, you should. What a hoot!) Naturally, I felt predisposed to enjoying this study. While it started off  s l o w l y I finally rejoiced, half jokingly, half seriously, with Ashley when I finally flipped the page to the next part of Esther in my bible after spending over three weeks on the same page. Huge fan of Beth's look at this Old Testament story and, as usual, walk away full of new knowledge and understanding of how this plays in the big picture. I've got notes scribbled in every book from Genesis to Revelations that relate back to Esther.

10. Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Legit. This has quickly moved up on my favorite books of all time list right next to A.W. Tozer's The Knowledge of the Holy. And the main reason I'm so aware of that is because those two books have more lines underlined than not. Something about short books (this one coming in right at 122 pages, in my edition at least) and the poetically brilliant, yet straight to the point, authors really grab my attention. Full of wisdom, Bonhoeffer examines the nature of Christian fellowship with such depth and scriptural reference that he hardly leaves room for questions before answering them. I can't recommend this one enough. Just trust me.

11. Bossypants by Tina Fey
I needed something mindless to read while we travelled to, through, and from China. Well, I was way too tired to do a whole lot of reading, but I did suffer a bout of insomnia on the way back home. When I wasn't completely enthralled watching our flight tracker I read this on my kindle. I needed something that I didn't have to think about, and that's exactly what I got.